This week, we learned about pneumatics – using gas/pressurised air to create movement in a certain flow. We would be creating our own inflatable shape and using the motor to inflate and deflate it.
First, my partner and I created the circuit for the motor. It looked pretty complicated at first, but then we realised the first loop just needed to be repeated three times for each of the connection points – the first motor, second motor, and air valve. Here is the motor in action with the demo inflatable: working motor
I forgot to document our design, but we decided to create a rectangle that would fold/curl up as air is pushed in and out of it. To do this, we first sketched the rectangle then drew rhombuses lining vertically along it. The first try cutting it didn’t exactly work, but we realised that it was because we had left no gap between the cut rhombuses and the edge. It ended up being torn by the cutter. The second time, we left room around as a border, and it worked.
If I were to do this differently, I would have started with a design that was a little simpler and fully understand the mechanics of it first. However, overall I feel like it was a pretty successful execution.